Across the United States, COVID-19 is once again on the uptick, infecting and killing many who are the most vulnerable. More than 16 million cases have been confirmed in the U.S., according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S. is now counting more than 100,000 cases a day as the virus surges across the country. Overall, there have been more than 307,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States. One sector of society that is getting hit hard by COVID-19 and is not getting much attention is the U.S. prison population.
Imprisoned people, along with frontline workers and communities of color, are extremely vulnerable to the deadly virus and are being severely impacted by it. The United States currently has the largest incarcerated population in the world, with about 2.3 million people in jails and prisons across the country, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. More than half of them (nearly 1.3 million inmates) do not have the ability to socially distance or take the sanitary measures needed to slow the spread of the virus. The effects of cramped and unsanitary cells have been disastrous across the country. One incarcerated person who is fighting for their life is Russell Maroon Shoatz.
Today on Sojourner Truth, we bring you audio from a recent webinar entitled, We Are Maroon! A Teach In for Russell Maroon Shoatz. The webinar, which was dedicated to showing solidarity with Russell, featured a wide range of speakers. They include: Kempis Ghani Songster of the Amistad Law Project, Mike Africa Sr. of the MOVE Organization, Dr. Jean Schneider, Robert Saleem Holbrook of the Abolitionist Law Center, and Lavinia Vee, a human rights activist and counselor.
